Sola Fide

Passage Outline

We’ve found ourselves in a bit of a mini-series here on some of the Solas of the Reformation. A few weeks ago, we discussed Solus Christus, that we are justified by Christ alone. Then we covered Soli Deo Gloria, we are justified to the glory of God alone, because all glory is His. Now, today, we’ll cover Sola Fide. We are justified by faith alone. All of these doctrines have their roots in not just arguing for argument’s sake, but they are doctrines that have attempted to maintain the Gospel message as it is taught in Scripture. As we revisit these doctrines, we are attempting to understand biblical concepts that have been heavily debated throughout church history.

We all know that there will come a day where we will be judged. We know that will will give an account for our lives. So, the question becomes then, what will we say when we’re asked, why are you here?

Before we read, I want to give a quick sermon image I heard from a faithful pastor, Alister Begg. The man on the middle cross.

Read Romans 9:25-33

Paul quotes from Hosea and Isaiah in these 3 block quotes. In the first block we see, Paul is quoting from first, Hosea 2, then Hosea 1. Hosea was initially prophesying this to the northern tribes of Israel, which had been dispersed among the nations, and returned to worship of idols and false gods. Paul is now using this to point to God’s redeeming power now, through Jesus to refer to those who were never His people, who are now called His people, being us, the Gentiles.

He continues with another prophecy of Isaiah, pointing back to the sovereign hand of God, maintaining a faithful remnant, through whom Jesus would come.

Now, v.30 what shall we say then? Gentiles, who never had the law now attain righteousness by faith, where Israel, who had the law could never succeed? Paul is clearly making this argument for his kinsmen, the Jews.

A righteousness that depends on adherence to the law is a righteousness that depends on your own ability to do good. You lose your reliance on God, and turn to a reliance on yourself, and if you can rely on yourself for any part of your salvation, you have something to boast in. Remember, Paul says of Abraham that it is by his faith that God considers him righteous, not by anythings that he had done, else Abraham would have something of himself to boast in. Abraham, along with us, can boast in nothing for our salvation but Christ alone.

And if you’re relying on your own ability to adhere to the law, Christ has now become the stumbling stone and the rock of offense. Even if you pursue the law with the purest of intentions, and seek righteousness as the law leads you to, we know that it is through Jesus Christ alone that we can be saved.

Introduction

So, this doctrine of Sola Fide, or justification by faith alone seems to be pretty clearly laid out here. It may seem pretty clear and maybe even seemingly unimportant to argue this point, because all Christians believe this, right? The “Five Solas of the Reformation,” were doctrines that would have had you condemned as a heretic in the 16th century by Romans Catholics, by far the largest Christian denomination at the time. It’s helpful in many of these cases to understand what exactly the alternative is, understand the positions that both sides hold. So, for this example, we’ll briefly discuss the Roman Catholic understanding of Justification.

Now, firstly, I’ve heard many say that Romans Catholics believe they are justified by works. This is a half truth, otherwise known as a strawman argument. This makes it sound like blasphemy, because, well, it is. But this is not the full view of the Roman Catholic church. They would say that justification does indeed rely on faith in Jesus, but they would say that justification also relys on works. It’s most easily expressed in a formula. For the Roman Catholic church, justification = faith + works. For us, good protestants that we are, we would disagree with this statement. We would say that faith = justification + works. We would say that we are justified by faith in Christ alone.

So, we have all heard a response like this. What do we do with…

James 2:14–17 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Well, we should agree, here! Faith without works is indeed dead. But wait, I thought we just said that we were saved by faith alone… Doesn’t that make justification dependent on works? No. Works are the fruit of our justification, not the root of our justification.

Let me explain. If a man says he has faith, but there is no difference in the way that he lives his life after claiming he has faith, what evidence do we have that he truly has faith? We all know and can testify that the day we accepted Jesus is the day that began some massive change in our hearts.

But surely, the Holy Spirit is not done with us yet. We are being sanctified, but sanctification is a process that won’t be complete until we’re in glory with the Father. So, until that day, while we look much different from the “old man” that we were before we were in Christ, we are still sinners. The phrase most often used to describe this was, “simultaneously justified and sinner.” That sounds like a logical fallacy. How can we be justified, yet still sinners? I though you had to be counted a righteous, as in right standing with God to be justified. That is what happened for us on the cross.

Remember, a month or two ago now, we talked about how we are declared just, we are declared righteous by God through faith in Jesus. We discussed expiation and imputation. So, ex, out of us came our guilt of our sins, and they were imputed, or charged to the account of Christ. This is how we understand…

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So, Jesus became sin. Remember, careful here, Jesus did not become sinful, but our sins were imputed onto Him. Meaning, they were still our sins, but he bore the punishment for them. Jesus never became sinful, otherwise His blood couldn’t have even redeemed Himself, let alone, us.

So, Jesus, who knew no sin, had our sins imputed onto Him. This has been called alien sin, in that it does not become a part of Christ, for He Himself is sinless, but He takes on the burden of our sins. In the same way, when we talk about imputation, we talk about a dual imputation. Our sins are imputed onto Christ, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed onto us, in just the same way, so that the righteousness that we have now, the righteousness that puts us in right standing with God and justifies us is not our righteousness at all, but it is the righteousness of Christ alone. It is alien to us, in the sense that it will always be distinct from us, though it is credited to us.

So, we’re justified by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, and Scripture alone is the final authority. We’re beginning to see hopefully how all of these doctrines play together beautifully to outline the gospel in what I would consider is it’s purest form.

So, how does this apply to our passage today? We’ll walk through this passage with three main questions in mind. If we’re justified by faith alone, what is faith? What is belief? What is a Faith that Works?

What is Faith?

“Faith is not believing in God. It is believing God. It is trusting Him, resting upon His promises, and leaning entirely on the finished work of Christ.”

— R.C. Sproul

Faith is taking God at His word, and trusting in Him for all of our needs. But what we put our faith in is importat. See, we can have strong faith in lots of things. I’ve used this example before and I love it. Every one of us came in this morning and sat down in a chair. Did anyone inspect the legs or test its strength first? No. Why? Because we trusted the chair to hold our weight. That’s faith — not a vague hope, but a confident rest. Biblical faith is not blind; it’s a reasoned trust in the object. The question is not whether you have faith — everyone does. The real question is: what are you placing your faith in?

The object of your faith is what really matters. And make no mistake, Satan knows that he’s lost the battle for your soul, but spiritual warfare is also very real. He is not trying to make you lose your faith, but lead you to misplace your faith in the things of this world. To withhold the peace of God from you that comes from faith in Him.

We’re often tempted to trust in our own ability to perform the things the Lord has called us to do, when our trust should be wholly in the Lord who both calls and equips.

We’re often tempted to trust in our own ability to store up treasures in this world for a rainy day, when they can all be gone in a rainy day.

We’re tempted to trust in our ability to maintain our health, or maintain relationships, or have success at work, or in school, or in ministry.

While we, no doubt, have responsibility to be good stewards of our bodies, our resources, our relationships, or whatever call the Lord has put on our life, we do all of this in total dependance and complete trust in the Lord. Money will fail you, people will fail you, your body will fail you, the talking heads on social media will fail you. None of these things are worthy of your total trust and complete faith.

One more Alistair Begg sermon image. The two Israelites on the night of the Passover.

Faith is only as good as its object. A weak faith in a strong Savior saves. But a strong faith in a weak object will fail every time.

“It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ. It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ who saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively not in the act of faith or the attitude of faith or the nature of faith, but in the object of faith — Jesus Christ.”

— B.B. Warfield, “The Plan of Salvation”

It is on the grounds of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ alone that anyone can be justified, and it is by the instrument of faith alone that we individually can be added to the body of Christ, and be justified.

I’ve heard faith before described as the organ by which we experience or apprehend God. We see all throughout Scripture that our hearts are to see, to taste, and to know God. The way that we experience God in our heart in this way is through the organ, or as many have called it, the instrument of faith.

Just to be clear, we’re talking about a figurative image here, I’m not suggesting you actually got another organ in your body. But imagine your faith like this organ, this muscle that is small when when it’s new, and it grows stronger as your faith matures.

Here’s the reason I like this image so much. If we imagine our faith as an organ, that allows us to feel the presence of God, to see Him and to know Him, and that organ is like our heart, a muscle. Here’s the important thing about muscles. They don’t get stronger unless you exercise them. I’m going to say that again. Your faith will not get any stronger unless you exercise it.

What is a Faith that Works?

“The Reformers were zealous to say that we are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. True faith always manifests itself in works. Not because works justify us, but because a justified person cannot help but live differently. Faith is the root, works are the fruit.”

— R.C. Sproul, “Faith Alone”

What are the works that a genuine faith produces?

Repentance and continual death of the old man

Love of God and love others(Jesus summary of the Law) Matthew 22:37–40 “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””

1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

John 13:34–35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

Obedience to God’s word

John 14:15 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Mercy and Generosity

James 1:27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Perseverance in the faith

James 1:2–3 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

A life devoted to prayer and worship

Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.””

You are saved by faith alone, but a faith that saves is never alone.